This invention lies in the field of breathing devices. More particularly, it concerns the design and construction of a nebulizer, or atomizer, for liquid medication, which is to be administered through the air supply to a patient.
In the prior art, there have been a large number of patents issued for various types of nebulizers, all of which have one problem or another. The principal difficulty of most atomizers, or nebulizers, is the matter of size of liquid particles that are produced. It is generally conceded that any droplets of size larger than 10 microns, and particularly the large drops of 1/16 inch or larger, are trapped on the walls of the mouth or throat and never pass into the lungs. For the medication to reach the smaller passages in the bronchial tubes and lungs, the size of liquid particles must be in the range of 0.5 to 5 microns.
Various means have been provided in the past for the purpose of creating fine mists of liquid but have not been able to continuously provide such a fine mist as is desired.
It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide a nebulizer which, with a supply of pressurized air will product a fine mist of liquid droplets, which can be picked up by the air supply provided by an IPPB apparatus, to provide medication to the lungs of a patient.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a nebulizer which will produce a fine droplet mist and which has means for separating out the larger sizes of particles, in case they are produced, so that they will settle out, be trapped, and returned to the reservoir of liquid, instead of passing on to the patient.